Butter-packer



I (No Model.)

2 SheetS -S h eet 1. P. B.-PARGO 8v 0'. 8. BROWN.

BUTTER PAGKER.

N 537,604, I Patent ed'Apr, 1.6, 1895.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet'2 F. B. FAR-G0 &: C. S. BROWN. I

BUTTER PAGKE'R. Q

No. 537,604. Patented Apr. 16, 1895.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK B. FARGO AND CHARLES S. BROWN, OF LAKE MILLS, WISCONSIN.

BUTTER-PACKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,604, dated April16, 1895.

Application filed July 9, 1894. Serial No. 516,887 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRANK B. FARGO and CHARLES S. BROWN, of Lake Mills,in the county of Jefferson and State of Wisconsin, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Butter-Packers, of which the following is adescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which area part of this specification.

Our invention is of a machine, largely an tomatic, adapted for packingbutter in a tub or analogous receptacle.

The invention consists of the mechanism and its several parts and theircombinations, as hereinafter described and claimed, or theirequivalents.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is a side elevation of the complete machine,showing alsoa tub in dotted lines, in position on the machine forpacking butter therein. Fig. 2, is an elevation of the machine at thatend that is at the left in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a vertical section on line3-3 of Fig. 1, looking toward the left. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectionof the machine on line 4t4 of Fig. 1 and is essentially a plan of themechanism for supporting and rotating the tub. Fig. 5, is a longitudinalsection of a portion of the devices mostly shown in Fig. 4:- Fig. 6, isa plan of the packerhead or plunger.

In the drawings, A is the frame of the machine which may be of anysuitable form for supporting the operative mechanism.

For supporting the tub in which the butter is to be packed, a carriageconsisting of a horizontally disposed platform, is pierced at one end bya vertically disposed screw 11 on which it is movable or travelsvertically. The screw 11 at its lower. end is footed in the frame and atits upper end is journaled in a cross bar thereof. The screw passesloosely through the inner end of the carriage 10 but turns in a nut 12,inserted in a recess therefor in the carriage in such manner that thenut is non-revoluble therein, but compels the vertical movement of thecarriage therewith as the nut is raised or lowered by the revolution ofthe screw. The carriage projects laterally from the screw between twoposts of the frame, and is supported, movable vertically thereon, byrollers 13 loose on pins or arbors therefor fixed in the carriage, therollers being so disposed respectively as to bear against the outer andinner surfaces of the posts, and thereby to assist in supporting thecarriage horizontally.

- The carriage 10 is provided with a longitudinal slot 14, in which ablock 15 is fitted, and is movable therein horizontally toward and fromthe frame of the machine. The block is supported on the carriage byshoulders 16 resting on the top surface of the carriage and movablethereon. The block is preferably so constructed as to stand at aslightly oblique angle to theperpendicular. A screw 17 bearing at itsinner end against the inner wall of the slot 14, and near its outer endhaving a collar 18 clamped-thereto, which bears against the outer endwall of the slot, turns bya screw thread through the block 15 and isadapted by its revolution to move the block horizontally in the carriagetoward and from the frame. The screw 17 is provided with a hand wheel 19for rotating it.

A ratchet wheel 20 having a fixed arbor 21 which is socketed andrevoluble in the top of the block 15, is adapted to support a circulartable or disk 22 thereon. Pins 23 fixed in the wheel 20 enter the disk22 and compel concurrent rotation of the disk with the wheel. The tub isplaced on the table and is held and moved up to its work thereon whilebeing packed, as indicated in Fig. 1. The sides of the tub are usuallyflaring and to adapt the table for supporting the tub in such mannerthat its wall adjacent to the posts of the machine shall besubstantially vertical, the table is disposed in a plane slightlyoblique to the horizontal. The table is at a right angle to the axis ofthe block 15. As the tubs vary in size, the table 22 is detachable, anddifferent sizes are used, which are adapted to fit easily within thechine of the tub, and thereby to prevent the slipping of the tub on thetable.

For rotating the tub while it is being packed with butter, a pawl 24engaging the teeth of the wheel 20 in one direction is pivoted in theextremity of a rod 25, the other extremity of which rod is pivoted toone arm of the bell crank lever 26, the other arm of which bell cranklever bears normally against the shaft 27, and is swung, and therebyactuated by a spindle 28 fixed eccentrically in disks at adistance apartrigid on the shaft 27. The bell crank 26 is pivoted on the carriage 10.The pawl-carrying extremity of the rod is piv' oted on the arm 29, whichis pivoted on the block 15, concentrically with the ratchet wheel 20. Aspring 30 fixed on the arm 29 bears against the pawl 24 and holds ityieldingly in engagement with the teeth of the Wheel 20. A spring 31attached to the bell crank lever and to the rod 25 is adapted toretrieve the rod and its pawl after it has been forced forward by theaction of the eccentric spindle 28, when the bell-crank lever hasescaped from the spindle.

The main shaft 27 is geared to the driving shaft 32, which latter shaftis journaled in the frame and is provided with fast and loose beltpulleys 33, 33. The shaft 27 is journaled and footed in the frame.

For packing the butter in the tub a packer head or plunger 34 is fixedon a plunger rod 35, which rod has bearings and is reciprocablevertically in the frame. A laterally expanded, or cross head member 36of the rod, located medially thereof, is provided with a horizontalslot, in which a wrist 37 travels, which Wrist is fixed in a disk 38,the disk being fixed on the shat't32. By this construction the plungeris reciproeated vertically, by the revolution of the shaft 32. The crosshead 36 is preferably composed of an outer metal frame 39, within whicha wood bearing block 40 is fixed, which wood-block is provided with thehorizontal slot in which the wrist 37. is received and travels. Thedisposition of the plunger 34 is such that it moves vertically justinside of that side of the tub which is in vertical position adjacent ofthe posts of the frame.

It is important that the tub be suitably lowered, as it is being filled,so that the butter therein shall receive only a proper stroke from theplunger. For this purpose mechanism is provided to automatically lowerthe carriage 10, and other similar but complementary mechanism isprovided for-automatically elevating the carriage to proper position,when an empty tub is placed on the table. For lowering the carriage apinion 41 splined on the upper unthreaded portion of the screw 11 isgeared through an idle wheel 42 to the wheel 43 fixed on the shaft 27.The wheel 42 is loose on a pin fixed in the frame. The size of thesewheels is such as to give a slow and suitable revoluble motion to thescrew 11 for properly lowering the carriage, while the tub is beingpacked under the action of the plunger 34 actuated by the shaft 32,which also drives the shaft 27. For slipping the pinion 41 out of meshwith the wheel 42 when the tub has been filled with butter, a furcatelever 44 pivoted at one extremity on the frame, rides medially in anannular groove therefor in the hub of the pinion 41 and at its freeextremity is provided with a weight 45. This lever 44, when the pinion41 is in mesh with the wheel 2, rests on the upper extremity of one armof the bell-crank lever 46 pivoted on the frame. The other arm of thelever is provided with a depending rod 47 having a hook at its lowerend, which is adapted to engage a pin 48 set in one or the other of theseries of apertures in the plate 49 fixed on the carriage 10. The

construction is such that the pin 48, as the carriage 10 descends, willengage the hook at the extremity of the rod 47 and pull it down therebyreleasing the arm 44 from the bell crank 46 and the weight will slip thepinion 41 downwardlyoutof mesh with the wheel 42 and thereby stop therotation of the screw 11. A spring 50 fixed on the frame bears againstan arm of the bell crank lever 46 and holds it yieldingly to positionbeneath the lever 44. A pin 51 fixed in the frame engages the bell-cranklever 46 and prevents its tilting, under the action of the spring 50,beyond its proper position beneath the lever 44.

The automatic complementary mechanism for elevating the carriage 10,consists of a pinion 52 splined on the upper unthreaded portion of thescrew 11, which pinion meshes with a large wheel 53 fixed on the shaft27, whereby when the pinion 41 is out of gear with the shaft 27, and thepinion 52 is in gear therewith, the screw 11 will be reversely rotatedand will elevate the carriage 10. By reason of the considerable size ofthe wheel 53 as compared with the pinion 52, and as compared with thewheel 43, the carriage 10 is elevated rapidly, by the same rapidity ofrevolutions of the shaft 27, that lowers the carriage slowly when the pinion 41 is in gear therewith. This provides for lowering the tub slowlywhile it is being filled with butter, and for elevating the carriagequickly when an empty tub is placed on the table, to raise it toposition quickly, so that the plunger will contact with butter in thetub near its bottom. The pinion 52 is slipped up on the shank of thescrew 11 and held normally out of gear with the wheel 53, by means ofthe weighted lever 54, which is medially pivoted on the frame and thefurcate ends of one extremity of which ride in an annular groovethereforin the hub of the pinion 52, the other arm of the lever being providedwith a weight 55 adapted normally to lift the pinion out of gear withwheel 53. The pinion 52 is put into mesh with the wheel 53 by liftingthe free end of the lever 54, and a bell crank lever 56, pivoted on theframe, is so arranged, that one extremity of one arm of the lever 56,being swung underthe weighted arm of the lever 54, supports it in theposition that retains the pinion 52 in mesh with the wheel 53. A rod 57connected at one extremity to the other arm of the bell crank lever 56,depends therefrom and is connected to one extremity of a tripping lever58, which is medially pivoted on the frame, in such position as to beengaged and tripped by the carriage 10 in its travel upwardly, when itreaches the point at whichthe carriage should stop for the properposition of the tub with reference to the plunger. The trip of thislever 58 by the carriage operates to tilt the bell crank lever 56 andrelease the weighted arm -of the lever 54, which goes down raising thepinion 52 out of mesh with wheel 53. A spring 59, fixed on the frame,holds the lever 56 yieldingly to position under the lever 54, and a stop60 on the frame prevents undue tilting of the bell crank lever under theaction of the spring.

The construction and disposition of the parts of the operative mechanismare such that the intermitting rotary motion of the table 22 occursduring the times of the upward movement of the plunger 34, so that thereis no revoluble movement of the tub While the plunger is in contact withthe butter.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. In a butter packer, a frame, a screw footed and journaled in theframe, a carriage movable vertically on ways in the frame and anon-revoluble nut in the carriage in which nut the screw turns wherebythe carriage is moved vertically, substantially as described.

2. In a butter packer, a frame, a screw footed and journaled in theframe, a carriage movable vertically in and projecting laterally fromthe frame, a non-revoluble nut in the carriage through which the screwturns, and rollers on the carriage bearing against the frame andsupporting the carriage in horizontal position in which position itmoves vertically on the frame, substantially as described.

In a butter packer, a vertically moving plunger, a vertically movablecarriage provided with a longitudinal slot, a tub-supporting blockmovable laterally on the carriage, and a screw journaled in the carriageand turning through the block, adapted to adjust the block laterally,combined substantially as described.

4. In a butter packer, a vertically reciprocating plunger, a verticallymovable carriage opposite the plunger, a laterally adjustable block inthe carriage, a revoluble tub-supporting ratchet wheel mounted on theblock, and means for revolving the ratchet wheel intermittingly,combined substantially as decribed.

5. In a butter packer, a vertically moving plunger, a vertically movablecarriage, a block adjustable laterally in the carriage, a ratchet wheelmounted revolubly on the block, a detachable table on the ratchet wheel,and means for intermittingly rotating the ratchet wheel and its load,combined substantially as described.

6. In a butter packer, a vertically moving plunger, a vertically movablecarriage, a block adjustable laterally in the carriage said block havingits axis slightly oblique to the perpendicular, a ratchet wheel and atable thereon mounted on the block, the table being at a right angle tothe oblique axis of the block Whereby the table is adapted to so supporta butter tub having flaring sides that one side will be perpendicular,combined substantially as described.

7. In a butter packer, the combination with a frame, and a verticallymovable butter-tub carriage therein, of a means for automaticallyelevating the butter-tub carriage, comprising a vertical screw footedand journaled revolubly in the frame, a non-revoluble nut in thecarriage through which the screw turns, a pinion splined on the stem ofthe screw, and a shaft to which the screw is geared, substantially asdescribed.

8. In a butter packer, a frame, a traveling carriage, a screw turningina nut in the carriage, a pinion 41 splined on the stem of the screw, aweighted lever riding in the hub of the pinion and adapted by gravity tothrow the pinion out of mesh with the driven wheel, and a bell-cranklever pivoted on the frame adapted normally to support the weightedlever aforesaid, and a rod connected to the bellcrank lever, said rodhaving a hook adapted to engage a pin on the carriage as it descends andthereby to trip the bell-crank lever and release the weighted lever,combined substantially as described.

9. In a butter packer, a frame, a traveling carriage, a screw turning ina nut in the carriage, a pinion 52 splined on the stem of the screw, aWeighted lever adapted normally to shaft, a bell-crank lever adapted tosupport the weighted lever, a tripping lever pivoted on the frame in thepath of the ascending carriage, and a rod connecting the bell-cranklever to the tripping lever, combined substantially as described.

10. In a butter packer, a frame, a main shaft 27, a carriage-elevatingand lowering screw 11, an automatically controlled pinion 4.1 splinedand sliding on' the stem of the screw and geared through an idle wheelto the shaft 27, and an automatically controlled pinion 52 also splinedand sliding on the stem of said screw, said last named pinion beinggeared directly to the shaft 27 for reversing the motion of the screw,combined substantially as described.

11. In a butter packer, provided with a vertically reciprocatingplunger, a frame, a carriage traveling vertically thereon, atub-revolving ratchet wheel mounted on the carriage, a pawl mounted onthe carriage engaging the teeth of the ratchet Wheel in one direction, abell-crank pivoted and supported on the carriage one arm of which is inthe path of an elongated eccentric fixed on a vertical revolving shaft,said shaft and eccentric, and a rod connecting the pawl to the other armof the bell-crank lever, combined substantially as described.

12. In a butter packer, a frame, a carriage traveling thereon, atub-revolving ratchetwheel mounted on the carriage, an arm pivotedconcentrically with the ratchet-wheel, a spring-actuated pawl on theswinging arm, a bell-crank, a driven shaft provided with an eccentricspindle against which one arm of said bell-crank contacts, and a rodconnecting hold the pinion out of mesh with a driven the pawl and thearm on which it is mounted to an arm of the bell-crank, and a spring forretrieving the pawl rod, combined substantially as described.

13. In a butter packer, the combination of a frame, a plungerreciprocative therein, and a table opposite the plunger, the table beingso disposed that it is adapted to support a butter tub thereon in suchposition that one side of the flaring walls of the tub is parallel, tothe line of motion of the plunger,substantially as described.

14. In a butter packer, the combination, of a frame, a plungerreciprocative therein, a table opposite the plunger movable toward andfrom the plunger in the direction of its reciprocation adapted tosupport a tub while-

